Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was a bit dumbfounded. “We’re just two nobodies, small as ants. How did we get onto the topic of the fate of the country and the world?”

“If you do not swear it, I will not marry you.”

His lips were close to my ear, his breath as sweet as orchids. “Then let others covet me, let them lust after me. If one day you are no longer here, perhaps someone will mistreat me, humiliate me…”

The image of a snow-white trumpet creeper flower being crushed and insulted was something I didn’t even dare to imagine.

“I’ll swear! I’ll do it!” It was just an oath, after all-words were easy enough to say.

But I never expected that this vow, which should have belonged only to the two of us, would be transcribed into a formal document by him.

I sat numbly on the stool, pressing one hand into the cinnabar and the other onto the paper to leave my thumbprints.

Press, press, press. Stamp, stamp, stamp.

In triplicate.

One for him, one for the Village Chief, and another he tucked away somewhere unknown.

Even a deed of sale wasn’t this formal.

He pulled a piece of white silk from his sleeve and gently wiped my reddened thumb.

Then, under my watchful gaze, he leaned down and kissed my fingertip.

“For the rest of our lives, please look after me…”

He murmured with a smile, his voice soft and enchanting.

Suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine. Looking at his radiant, beautiful face again, my heart pounded even harder.

Yes, I really do love him.